CHARITY, Guyana (AP) – One of the survivors of a ferry that capsized in Guyana over the weekend with as many as 179 people aboard said she lost four of her grandchildren in the chaotic disaster and that the ship seemed to sink in an instant.

"I was fighting for my life. The boat sunk in minutes, seconds," Helena Moonsammy recalled, saying that boxes fell on her as she tried to save her grandchildren. "I told my grandbabies to cling on to anything as I hollered for them. I prayed all night and was in the water for nine hours."

At least 69 people have been rescued after the MV Barima sank late Saturday off the Essequibo coast, and 27 bodies have been found so far – four of them children, Prime Minister Mark Phillips said. But the death toll is expected to rise dramatically, he said.